


Last Goodbye

by Rina_san28



Series: Pride Month 2018 [28]
Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Bittersweet, Established Relationship, Goodbyes, M/M, Old Married Couple, Post-War of the Ring, pride 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 13:39:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15120572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rina_san28/pseuds/Rina_san28
Summary: Gimli and Legolas take one final journey together.Written for Pride Month 2018 Day 30: Last Goodbye





	Last Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> I knew as soon as I started this challenge that this was how I wanted it to end. One final hurrah for the month. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Legolas grunted as he set the final crate down onto the deck of the ship, then sighed with no small amount of relief. He looked out at the sea, the waves glinting as the sun rose in the eastern sky. While he had suggested that they wait until the afternoon to depart, Gimli had been adamant to leave as soon as possible in the day. Considering what lay ahead for the elderly dwarf, Legolas had caved fairly quickly.

 

“Are we nearly ready?” Gimli asked from his seat on the dock. “If we’re not, I may just take my old bones back to bed.”

 

Legolas trotted back down the gangplank and smiled at his husband. “Nay, _meleth nîn,_ no need for that. She’s ready to go when you are.”

 

Gimli puffed at his pipe for a moment, thinking. “Very well, then,” he said finally. “I suppose we’d best be off. Did you pack my tools?”

 

“Yes, I did.”

 

“And you remembered food other than that waybread nonsense?”

 

“Of course.”

 

“And…” Gimli’s face scrunched up as he searched for words. “Ah, yes. You sent Arod back to Aragorn to watch, right?”

 

Legolas felt his heart clench. “Both are gone, Gimli,” he reminded his husband gently. “Arod’s passing came nearly a century and a half ago, and Aragorn was laid to rest last fall.”

 

The old dwarf frowned, running a gnarled hand through his snow-white beard. “Ah. Yes, I suppose you’re right.” He turned stiffly to look out past the gates of the Grey Havens, to the green, rolling hills of the kindly west. “I doubt I shall ever see these lands again, hmm?”

 

“No, my love,” Legolas said, kneeling down in front of him. “None return from Valinor who travel there.”

 

“I doubt I’d be returning from any journey at this point, _ghivashelê,_ ” Gimli said, gruff but kind. “Rather spectacular that I made it this far.”

 

“You’ve never been one to give into the odds,” Legolas joked. He laid his head on Gimli’s lap, relaxing as his husband’s hands traced the bumps and curves of his marriage braid. “You know, after all of this time dreaming and preparing, all those decades fighting the call of the sea,” he murmured, “I find myself quite reluctant to leave.”

 

“You needn’t worry at all, my dear,” Gimli said, setting his pipe down and taking Legolas’s thin hand in his own broad one. “My nephew has our land firmly in hand, guided well and true by your brother, and Aragorn’s son leads the Men well. We do not leave a world in peril.”

 

“Aye,” Legolas breathed. “And if what the Lady once said was true, then we shall have friends awaiting us on the other side of this journey.”

 

“Ah, the Lady of Lórien,” Gimli sighed. “You know, I still hold those hairs on my person? I should make a necklace for them. That would keep them well.” Legolas hummed noncommittally, unwilling to remind the dwarf once again that the task had long since been done.

 

 _All ills are healed here,_ the Lady had said in a dream.

 

 _Even the ills of the mind?_ Legolas had asked her. _For my husband drifts and forgets, and the years take their toll on his words._

 

 _All ills, Child,_ she’d said, and send him back to the waking world.

 

He shook off the dream and stood, then reached out to assist his husband as he carefully stood, his cane firmly in his grasp. “Are you ready?”

 

“As ready as I’ll ever be, I suppose,” Gimli said after a moment. He accepted the elf’s offered arm and together the pair, ever so slowly, boarded the ship which would take them from the shores of Middle Earth forever.

 

Legolas settled Gimli in his seat on the deck, carved carefully by the dwarf’s own kin for this very journey, before untying the ship from its mooring and giving it a gently push away from the dock, letting the sea breeze catch the sails.

 

“You know,” Gimli said, his voice tight. “I am going to miss this place.”

 

“I will as well,” Legolas said, returning to his side, “but our time here is over. More discoveries lie ahead of us now.”

 

“We certainly covered our lands enough for several lifetimes,” Gimli said. He let out a heavy sigh, then blinked the wetness from his eyes. “I was to depart this world eventually, but if I am, then I gladdens me to do so at your side.” He smiled at his husband, reaching up to cradle his face with a gentle hand. “You comfort me,” he said, his own words from so many years before. “Where you go, I will also.”

 

“From one end of the earth to the other,” Legolas said, and together they watched the harbor fade into mist.

**Author's Note:**

> Gimli was quite old when they finally left Middle Earth. If we're going by movie canon for ages, then he would have been in his nearly 270 when Aragorn passed away (at the ripe old age of 210), and Legolas and Gimli departed not long after that. 
> 
> Thank you so much for following and reading along this month. Pride month may be over for 2018, but it lasts forever in our hearts. Here's to me never doing another 30-day writing challenge ever again. 
> 
> Come visit me at rina-san28 on Tumblr! I'm more than happy to fill prompts and/or any other requests!


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